Display freezers are commonly used in retail outlets such as supermarkets, restaurants, convenience stores and other establishment that sell frozen or refrigerated foods. The display freezers typically include a display case having shelves for displaying various products such as food. Glass doors allow the consumer to survey the selection of products without having to open each of the doors. When a selection is made, the consumer can quickly open the appropriate door, remove the desired item and close the door. Display freezers also include an evaporator unit that keeps the interior of the display case cold. Often the evaporator unit is housed beneath the display case. Air circulates from the interior of the display case, through the evaporator unit, and back into the display case.
One objective in designing display freezers is to maximize the available volume of the interior display case, thereby maximizing the food storage capacity. A constraint on achieving this objective is the footprint, i.e., the width and depth of the display freezer, is often limited by the size constraints of the retail outlet in which the freezer will be placed. Similarly, the useable height of a display freezer's interior is limited both by the available retail space and by the height of the average consumer.